As much of the world was gripped by the spectacle of Elon Musk’s chaotic management of social media site Twitter in 2023, Reuters investigated the billionaire’s manufacturing empire – exposing harms that were hidden yet more tangible.
The resulting scoops and investigations documented a rising toll of needless injuries and deaths of workers at rocket builder SpaceX and of laboratory animals at Neuralink, Musk’s brain-implant company. Other stories found that his groundbreaking electric-car company, Tesla, covered up dangerous defects in steering and suspension parts; rigged in-dash driving-range estimates in its cars; invaded drivers’ privacy by sharing sensitive images recorded by their vehicles; and made Tesla Insurance customers wait months for claim payouts.
